Yale Tries to Be Like Harvard, Fails

Oh, Yale. When will you learn? First you rip off (half of) Harvard's motto, and now this. In a desperate attempt to distract people from the fact that it's only the third-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S. (our own Harvard, of course, being first), Yale has resorted to financial attention-getting techniques. On the heels of the announcement that Harvard has lost $8 billion, or 22%, from its endowment, Yale is coming out with news that its own endowment has dropped 25%, finally making Yale the leader in something. (It's about time.) But those figures may be misleading: Harvard lost 22% through October of this year. Through the same period, Yale is down only 13%. The 25% estimate comes from University President Richard Levin, who says the school has lost even more money in November and December. Assuming Levin's numbers are correct, Yale's endowment now stands at a paltry $17 billion in comparison to Harvard's $28 billion, and Yale's loss for the year was about $5 billion. That's just not going to cut it, Bulldogs—you've got to bleed more bucks.